Before: Legacy of the past
by la harlequin
Summary: Prequel to 'In my fathers shadow' but can stand alone. Before Harry, Arianna, Ron, Hermione and Ginny there was James, Sirius, Lily, Remus, Peter, Anna and Bel. Please rr! It's good, i promise!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay, this is a prequel to 'In my father's shadow' but it can stand on it's own. The rich kids: James and Bel, The poor kids: Anna and Remus, the muggleborn: Lily, and the evil kid: Sirius. How will they react to each other and form friendships. It's gonna be a bumpy ride! Please review!

Disclaimer: I don't own HP

Chapter One – First Day

'Oi! James! James! James Potter! GET OFF YOU LAZY ARSE THIS MINUTE OR WE WILL MISS THE TRAIN!' THUMP. James Potter landed on his bedroom floor and gazed groggily up at the tall, blonde girl standing in front of him.

'Oh… hey Bel… what are you doing here?' She waved her hand impatiently.

'My dad just dropped me over. Your mum sent me up here to check if you're ready to leave yet and I come up here to find you SLEEPING!' James sat up straight.

'Damn. What time is it?'

'Ten-thirty.'

'DAMN!'

'Look, James, I can't leave for the train station until you're ready to go and I personally don't want to miss my first ever day at Hogwarts just 'cos you are a lazy pig so GET MOVING!'

'All right, all right… I'm moving.' James slowly got to his feet.

'I could always tell your mum you were still asleep…' James was instantly moving double time.

'Can you get out so I can dress?'

'I'll be downstairs.'

Bel walked out of James room, shutting the door behind her. He really was the stupidest, laziest, most disgusting pig sometimes, but what else could you expect from brothers? Bel and James weren't really related, of course, but they had grown up together, practically living at each others houses. They both came from long lines of purebloods, but their families were both firm supporters of the side of the light and completely supportive of muggle-born witches and wizards.

Bel entered the Potter's kitchen to find it empty except for the house elf, Mokey. The house elf looked up at Bel with wide, staring eyes.

'Is Miss Annabel wanting anything?'

'No, Mokey, I'm fine. Oh, hi Mrs Potter!' Bel turned her attention to James' mum who had just entered the room.'

'Hi Annabel. Did you find James?'

'Yeah, he's just getting ready. He'll be down in a minute.' Mrs Potter raised an eyebrow.

'He overslept again?' Bel grinned.

'Yeah, but he's just getting ready now.'

'Good. We'll have to leave in about ten minutes at the latest. He better get down here soon or he'll miss the train.'

'I'm here! Let's go! Hogwarts awaits the brilliant James Potter and it can't wait much longer!' James had arrived. He walked calmly over to his mother.

'Sorry I'm late mum. I just had to double check I had packed everything.' Bel kicked him in the shin and his mother laughed.

'You were always a terrible liar, James.' James looked guilty but decided to have one last stab at it.

'I don't know what you're talking about.'

'You overslept, dear. I know.' James turned to glare at Bel.

'Traitor.' He hissed. She smirked at him.

'Hey, she's a powerful woman! She could get the truth out of anyone!'

'Brat'

'And loving it.'

'For want of a better comeback, shut up.' Bel grinned.

'Ha ha, I win!' Mrs Potter glanced at her watch and gasped.

'Oh dear! We should be at the train station already! I'll just grab the portkey. You two go wait in the entrance hall with your trunks.'

'Kay,' said Bel, 'Come on, James.'

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'So… where you wanna sit?'

'A compartment would be good.'

James and Bel were forcing their way through the busy train, trying to find a compartment. They reached a compartment door and James stopped and turned to Bel.

'This is the last one. If it's full we'll have to sit in the hallway.' Bel shrugged and shoved the door open. It was occupied, but not full. Sitting inside were two girls, both about James and Bel's age. One of the girls was short, with bright red hair and emerald green eyes. The other girl was also small, but with dirty-blonde hair that fell to halfway down he back and hazel eyes.

'Hi!' said James, sticking out his hand to the redhead, 'I'm James Potter and this is Annabel Kerrigan. Can we sit here? Everywhere else is full.' The girl smiled at them.

'Sure, I'm Lily Evans and this is Anna-May Morgan.' James automatically sat down next to Lily, leaving Bel to sit down next to Anna-May.

'Sooooo…' she started, 'You guys first years?'

'Yeah,' Anna replied, 'I can't wait to start learning magic.'

'Me too,' piped in Lily, 'I never even knew about magic until I got my letter!' James and Bel grinned at each other and pulled their wands out of their pockets.

'You wanna see some magic?' asked James excitedly.

Lily looked surprised.

'You know magic?' she asked.

'They're purebloods, Lily,' said Anna, 'They would have had basic lessons over the summer.' Lily looked confused.

'Pure Bloods?'

'Our parents and the rest of our families are magical. But how did you know that?' Bel asked Anna.

'The Kerrigan's and the Potters. Pretty well known families.

'But… I thought you were muggle-born…' Anna looked distinctly uncomfortable.

'No… I'm pure-blood. My families just… not as well off as yours.' Her cheeks flamed red and she looked at the floor.

'Well… do you wanna see some magic?' James interrupted. Bel was glad for the distraction. She hadn't meant to make the Morgan girl feel bad. Lily was also eager to cover up the tension.

'Sure! What spells can you do?' Bel promptly reached up and grabbed James' glasses off his face and snapped them in half.

'What did you do that for?' demanded Lily, 'You can't just go around breaking people's glasses!' James feigned a sad expression.

'Bel! I can't see now and it's your entire fault! Why did you do that? You know that I'm visually impaired!' Lily reached out to pat James on the back and he broke down, pretending to sob into her shoulder. Bel rolled her eyes but decided to play along.

'You had it coming!' she shrieked dramatically, 'Even now that you're right in front of me you're holding on to her for dear life! Did you think I wouldn't figure it out?'

Bel could have sworn she saw a flicker of a grin on James' face, but a second later, it was gone. He threw himself at her feet and started kissing the hem of her robes.

'My love! I am so sorry! Can you ever forgive me? No other has such beauty that compares to yours! Take me back, my love, I plead your forgiveness!' Bel batted her eyelashes at James and pulled him to his feet.

'Oh of course I forgive you, darling! We are star-crossed lovers destined to be together for all of eternity!' Lily and Anna were watching this display with wide eyes. Lily's mouth was hanging open slightly. James winked at Bel and started leaning in closer. Bel followed his lead. Their faces were only a few centimetres away when…

'GOTCHA!' They leapt apart, startling Lily and Anna who had been watching them intently.

'I can't believe you fell for that!' shrieked Bel, who was currently rolling around on the compartment floor in laughter.

'That was the best one we've done in ages!' gasped James, who was leaning on the compartment door for support. Lily glared at them.

'That was really immature! And why did you break his glasses?' Lily demanded. Bel looked down at the broken glasses in her hand and smirked.

'Well, Evans, I was going to show you some magic before you got all huffy with me!' Lily's smile faltered.

'Oh.'

'"oh" is right miss goody-two-shoes! _Oculus reparo_.' The glasses automatically repaired themselves.

'Well someone looks like a complete idiot.' Said James smirking.

'Shut up, Potter.' hissed Lily menacingly.

'Make me, Evans.'

'Hey, leave her alone!' said Anna defiantly, glaring at him.

'Maybe you should mind your own business, Morgan!' spat Bel, turning to Anna, 'If he wants to talk to Evans he'll talk to Evans!'

'Let's go.' muttered James, grabbing Bel by the arm, 'We can go sit somewhere else.'

'Actually we can't.' said Bel, shaking him off her, 'everywhere else is full, remember?'

'Damn.' James and Bel seated themselves again, as far away as possible from Lily and Anna, and started discussing the pranks they had pulled on their parents.

Anna and Lily were discussing which classes they thought would be the most interesting, and were trying desperately to ignore to ignore the other two kids in the compartment. They stayed this way until the door slid open again ten minutes later revealing another boy about their age.

He was definitely good looking, Bel noted. He had a handsome, aristocratic look to him with his pale skin, dark hair and grey eyes.

'Can I sit here?' he asked them quickly, 'I just escaped from my cousin and I'm trying to hide.'

'Sure!' said Anna brightly before either James or Bel could reply, 'Come sit down here.' She gestured to the space beside her and the boy shot her grateful smile and came to sit down.

'I'm Lily Evans and this is Anna-May Morgan,' said Lily, 'The two idiots over there,' she gestured to Bel and James, 'Are Annabel Kerrigan and James Potter.' The boy shot Bel and James a startled look before whispering in a barely audible voice, 'Sirius Black.'

James jumped to his feet instantly and started to push Bel out of the compartment.

'Come on,' he said just loud enough for the others to hear, 'I'm sure there are some nice _Gryffindor's_ we can sit with. Evans and Morgan were bad enough but I'm not sitting with the likes of him.' Bel just had time to register the hurt look on Sirius Black's face before she was shoved out the door.

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'Welcome to Hogwarts. The banquet will begin shortly, but before that can proceed, you must all be sorted into your houses. Your houses will become something of your family at Hogwarts. Good behaviour will win house points and bad behaviour will lose house points. I hope you will all be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. Now form a line.' Bel jumped into line between James and a small, frail looking boy with light brown hair.

'When I call your name, you will come forward and place the sorting hat on your head to be sorted.' Bel watched the first few students get sorted until it came to a name she recognised.

'Black, Sirius.' Bel watched as the dark haired boy strode up to the stool and placed the hat on his head. His face had an expression of complete calm on it, but Bel could see his hands shaking. The hat took a long time to sort Sirius Black, and when it reached its verdict, everyone was shocked.

'GRYFFINDOR.' Bel's jaw dropped. A Black in Gryffindor? It was outrageous! Blacks' were evil, it was one of the lessons she had been taught from a very young age. But here was a Black, in Gryffindor.

'There's a mistake… that's what it is… a mistake…' Bel could here James muttering next to her. Sirius Black removed the hat from over his head and his face was white and his hands were trembling. He dropped the hat on the stool and ran over to the Gryffindor table. After the Black incident, the sorting was fairly boring for Bel, but she did notice with some dissatisfaction that Evans was sorted into Gryffindor.

'Kerrigan, Annabel.' Bel strolled calmly up to the stool. She wasn't worried about the sorting. She knew she'd be in Gryffindor. All of her family had been for generations. It had been hundreds of years since there was a Kerrigan in another house and that was in Ravenclaw, and Ravenclaw wasn't too bad. Bel placed the hat on her head and sat down on the stool.

'Hmmm… Another Kerrigan… I remember sorting your parents… there's only one place for you… GRYFFINDOR!' Bel smiled and ran down to join the Gryffindor table. She grinned as she realised she was getting the loudest cheer yet. Yes, the Kerrigan's were a well respected family. She turned to talk to the boy sitting beside her while she waited for someone interesting to be sorted.

'Soooo… what do think about Black making Gryffindor?' He gave her a weak smile.

'It's sure to cause a bit of commotion. I'm Remus Lupin.'

'I'm – ‚'

'Annabel Kerrigan. You're quite well known.' She grinned.

'Call me Bel.' They both turned their attention back to the sorting when they heard James' name being called. Bel wasn't worried. She knew James would make Gryffindor just as easily as she had. James got his wish. As soon as the hat touched his head it roared out,' GRYFFINDOR!'

Bel smiled. Her world was just about perfect right now. She was at Hogwarts. She was in Gryffindor. Her best friend was in Gryffindor. Sure she'd have to share a dormitory with Evans and Morgan and James would have to share one with Black, but at least he'd have Remus; he seemed nice. Yep, Annabel Rhania Kerrigan's world was pretty much perfect right now.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Chapter 2! Woo! Hehe… thanks heaps to the people who reviewed.

Disclaimer: I don't own HP

Chapter 2 - Rude awakening

Bel awoke the next morning and practically bounced out of bed. Today was her first day of school at Hogwarts and she wanted to make the most of it. She smirked as she saw that Lily and Anna were both still asleep. Time to have a little fun, she thought wickedly. She headed over to her school trunk and began desperately searching through it. In a matter of seconds, all traces of the house elves' neat folding had disappeared. A few minutes later, Bel straightened up, having finally found the object for which she had been desperately searching. Spello-tape. With an evil grin at her peacefully sleeping dorm mates, Bel set to work.

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James frowned. He had wanted to start off the school year with a prank, but being out of spello-tape complicated the problem. He glanced at his watch. 6:45. Bel would probably be awake, he thought, and if not, he would wake her. Still wearing only his boxers, James sprinted downstairs to the common room.

He quickly located the girls staircase (it was right next to the boy's one) and sprinted up it. Big mistake. As soon as his foot hit the bottom stair, the whole staircase transformed into a giant slide, and James fell flat on his face. Moaning, he staggered to his feet and glared at the staircase. It was a challenge, and James Potter wasn't one to turn down a challenge.

He surveyed the staircase sceptically for a few minutes before seeing the answer to his problem. Amazed by his own brilliance, James began to climb the banister.

Unfortunately for him, as he soon discovered, the first year girls dorm was on the top floor, and so by the time he reached it, James was quite puffed.

Panting and swearing, James turned the handle of the girl's dorm and ducked inside. He was greeted by the sight of Bel, still in her silk pyjamas, standing over Lily Evans' bed. Both Lily and Anna were taped to their beds with tape covering their mouth and eyes.

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Bel turned at the sound of the door opening. She grinned at the comical sight of her friend panting heavily and wearing nothing but boxers.

'Hey James.'

'Hey Bel. What's this?' he raised an eyebrow and gestured to Anna and Lily. Bel grinned.

'Welcome to Hogwarts wake-up call. Shall we do it together?' James smirked and nodded.

'1, 2, 3...'

'FIRE!'

Lily and Anna both instantly tried to sit up in bed, but of course, they couldn't. They were both struggling furiously and trying to scream, but their voices were muffled by the tape across their mouths. After a few minutes of watching them struggle, James took pity on them and ripped the tape off their eyes and mouths so they could see and speak.

'You,' hissed Lily as she saw Bel standing above her, 'I am going to rip you limb from – ' she suddenly stopped and blushed as she caught sight of the half-naked James. Her embarrassment soon turned to anger.

'What are you doing in here, Potter? This is a girls' dorm!'

'Yeah, so what are you doing here, Evans?' Bel asked her seriously, fighting desperately to keep a straight face.

'Hey! Leave her alone and untie us right now!' shrieked Anna from the next bed over.

'My pleasure.' Bel ran over to her trunk and returned a few minutes later holding a pocket knife with her initials engraved on the handle. She raised it over Lily as if about to perform some kind of ancient sacrifice ritual.

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Lily eyed the knife in terror and shut her eyes, waiting for the blow to come. It didn't come. When Lily opened her eyes again, Bel was cutting through the tape with her knife, but not touching Lily at all. She sighed in relief and glared at Bel.

'Had you scared for a moment, didn't I?' Bel laughed at the defiant glare on Lily's face as she finished cutting through the tape and moved over to free Anna.

'You are so immature!' Lily yelled at James, who was laughing heartily, 'And put some clothes on!' James glanced down at himself and blushed. He was still half naked.

'Uhh… I gotta go. I'll see you at breakfast, Bel!' He grabbed the tape off Bel's bedside table and ran out of the room.

Bel finished freeing Anna and gave both her room mate's pleasant smiles, which they did not return.

'Well, since neither of you seem to be in any kind of hurry, I guess I'll take first shower.' Not wanting to give Lily and Anna time to steal the bathroom, Bel grabbed her entire trunk and dragged it into the bathroom with her.

A few minutes later, Bel heard a distant yell.

'FIRE!' hehe, she thought, looks like the guys just got their wakeup call!

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Bel looked up as the post arrived and instantly located her family's black-and-white owl. It flew down to her and landed right in the middle of her toast, and Bel was sure it was just to annoy her. Regius was a creature who lived to irritate people, except for Mr and Mrs Kerrigan (who he constantly sucked up to) and especially Bel and her brothers. Damien and Marcus were Bel's seven year old twin brothers, and she usually got on pretty well with them, except when James was around, because for some strange reason they seemed to idolise him, though Bel could never figure out why.

Bel took the roll of parchment from Regius and was about to read it when she was distracted by the sound of a howler going off. Eager to see who it was being humiliated; Bel craned her neck to see the full extent of the Gryffindor table. Her eyes rested on Sirius Black, who was currently very pale and his hands were shaking, but his face held a defiant expression as he stared at the Howler with utmost loathing.

'-DISGRACE TO THE NAME OF BLACK! YOU WAIT TILL WE GET YOU HOME, BOY! WE ARE GOING TO WHIP YOU RAW! WHY CAN'T YOU BE MORE LIKE YOUR BROTHER! HE IS A MODEL OF WHAT A TRUE BLACK SHOULD BE! I HOPE YOU ROT IN HELL WITH ALL YOUR MUDBLOOD FRIENDS!' The Slytherins were jeering and the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were showing no sign of being friendly either. Bel shot Sirius a pitying glance before turning back to her own letter.

_Dear Annabel,_

_We commend you on making Gryffindor. You have made your family proud. We will be expecting you home for the Christmas and Easter holidays._

_Best wishes,_

_Nicholas and Madeline Kerrigan_

_p.s. We have received notice that one of the Black children was also sorted into Gryffindor. We forbid you to come in contact with him or even speak to him unless it is absolutely necessary._

Bel crumpled up the letter in disgust. _We commend you on making Gryffindor…_

What a way to talk to your eldest child! It sounds as if they're speaking to one of they're stupid work associates, she thought bitterly. A sudden wave of inspiration hit her and Bel un-crumpled the letter and reread the p.s. A grin slowly spread over her face. She jumped out of her seat, unaware of the fact that some sixth year prefect had been half way through saying something to her and had thought she was listening, and bounded over to where Sirius Black was sitting. Needless to say, quite a large space had formed all around him. She sat next to him and stuck out her hand.

'Hi! I'm Bel Kerrigan! You're Sirius Black, right?' He regarded her carefully and then went back to his bacon.

'Come to rub it in?' Bel gave him her brightest smile.

'Not at all. I just thought you'd like some company. You seemed kind of lonely down here.' He looked at her for a long time before blurting out, 'Why are you talking to me?' she regarded him quizzically.

'What do you mean?' he sighed.

'I mean, is this some kind of stupid joke, or something? Because if it is, it's not very funny.'

'It's not a joke I sw – '

'The truth,' he cut her off, 'just tells me: why did you come down here to talk to me?' Bel glared at him for a moment before shoving her hand into her pocket and pulling out the letter from her parents. She handed it to him.

'Read it.'

He quickly scanned the letter and raised an eyebrow at her.

'You came down here to talk to me because your parents told you not to?' she nodded happily. He grinned.

'You're not so bad, Kerrigan.'

'You're not so bad yourself, Black.'

Quite a few people were watching them in interest now. A Kerrigan and a Black being friendly to each other? It was unheard of!

'Uh… Kerrigan?' Sirius started.

'Yeah?'

'I don't think your boyfriend likes the idea of you being friends with me.' Bel's head shot up.

'What? I don't have a boyf- Oh damn. James.' James Potter was currently storming over to where they were sitting and he didn't look happy.

'Bel!' he hissed as he got closer to them, 'Is he giving you trouble? I'll break his scrawny little neck!' He swung out to try and punch Sirius in the face, but Bel grabbed his arm and stopped him.

'James,' she hissed dangerously, 'Can I speak with you for a moment?' James shot one last look of contempt at Sirius before following Bel out of the hall.

Once they were out of earshot, James exploded.

'WHAT ARE YOU DOING TALKING TO HIM? HE'S A BLACK! HE'LL TRY AND MURDER YOU IN YOUR SLEEP! HE'S A BLACK, ANNABEL, A BLOODY BLACK! DO NOT EVER SPEAK TO HIM AGAIN!' Bel waited patiently while James ranted. When he finally stopped, Bel spoke to him.

'Quite done? Made your point?' He nodded.

'Good. Now I am going to go sit with Sirius and finish my breakfast if you don't mind.'

James stared dumbly after her as she flounced back to the Gryffindor table where she sat down with Sirius. Then he scowled. Sirius Black was going to pay.


End file.
